Your little piece on Ms.Wright, alludes to her not understanding her 'mistaken' use of the last line of the poem. When in fact, she was making light of this. The way in which this information has been drawn in your daily email, seems unfair to Ms.Wright.

( The final two lines had been heard as "they have slain the Earl O' Moray, and Lady Mondegreen." The American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term "mondegreen" in an essay "The Death of Lady Mondegreen," which was published in Harper's Magazine in November 1954.In the essay, Wright described how, as a young girl, she misheard the final line from the ballad.)

My first introduction to Mondegreens was a William Safire column in the New York Times where one example he used was "Lead On, O Kinky Turtle" for the hymn "Lead On, O King Eternal". Mr Safire went on to credit Gregory Jaynes for using the phrase "lead on, o kinky turtle" as mantra for stress reduction. It seemed a profoundly appropriate use at the time in my own life and still serves me well in particularly trying moments.

My late father referred to a friend who had developed 'Old Timer's Disease' for Alzheimer's Disease.

Another mondegreen, in Portuguese, was heard by a female friend of mine after the 1974 revolution in Portugal in which the Communist party had become prominent. My friend was complimented at a dinner party for being very beautiful, like a 'protaganista' (a movie star) but which she heard as, and was accordingly insulted by, the phrase 'puta comunista' (a Communist whore).

My favorite modegreen was "there's a bathroom on the right" in the Credence Clearwater Revival song, "Bad Moon Rising." The correct wording that I finally understood was "There's a bad moon on the rise."

It took me almost 60 years to realize that the song I learned as a child was not just nonsense, but had words that could be understood. I've since learned that others shared this mondegreen. Perhaps others here remember, "Mairzie dotes and dozie dotes and lit'le lamzie divey. A kid'l de divey too, wouldn't you?" I still prefer my version to "Mares eat oats and does eat oats, and little lambs eat ivy."

Mairzy Doats was a novelty song, published with that title/lyric - the joke was given away later, in the bridge: If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey,Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy."

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